Blowing Smoke

These are the famous words of our colonial forefathers. This means that people should not have the will of others imposed on them without having their say in the matter.

This creed is not being mirrored on our campus.

Non-smokers rejoiced while tobacco inhalers lamented because as of Feb 1, the campus became smoke-free.

School legislators don’t seem to grasp that pushing the problem of smoking on campus out to the parking lots does not address the issue.

This policy was rushed and flawed since its conception last semester.

This out of sight, out of mind policy of the administration will not work.

Unless the Sheriffs will be allowed to start deputizing instructors and maintenance workers, there simply won’t be enough manpower to enforce this ban.

Until there is an effective way to enforce it, school policy should remain the way it was, with designated smoking areas provided throughout the campus.

Under this new school wide ordinance, consumers of these “sin-sticks” will now be forced to get their fix exclusively at five designated parking lots and outside the Applied Technology building.

The decision was made during the Fall ’09 semester by the Academic Senate, primarily as a retaliatory measure against smokers who would not smoke in the designated areas.

For such a drastic change in campus policy that affects a significant portion of the students, they had little to no say in this decision..

This was due in part to the Associated Students Organization apathetically failing to fulfill its job as the voice of the students on campus, by not appearing at crucial decision-making meetings.

The administration also refused to have any open discourse with students, many of whom this new policy condemns.

Until students get a say in their own matters, this plan should not come to fruition. We are, after all, a democracy. An institution that is of the people, by the people and for the people. We should have a voice.